In the Europa League 1/4 match that ended this morning, Liverpool, who was playing away, relied on Salah's face-saving penalty and lost 1:0 to Atalanta on aggregate with an aggregate score of 1:0, officially announcing the defeat in the Europa League. From a month ago, Liverpool won the championship on the fourth line, to the rout on the third line now, and the league has lost the initiative, people can't help but wonder, what happened to this team that has always been known for its iron army?
Perhaps a statistic can explain why in March and April, Liverpool seemed to have changed teams and showed a lack of stamina. That's it – injuries.
Of the three teams competing for the Premier League, Liverpool topped the table with 1,252 days, while Arsenal had only 882 days and Manchester City had only 654 days. The so-called Manchester City is good at taking the lead in the back, the essence is because the team has fewer injuries, and in the second half of the league, they often return to the team and are full of energy, so when the strong teams frequently drop the chain, they rely on the thickness of the squad to use a wave of undefeated/consecutive wins to completely open the gap.
The difference between the three teams is probably related to the tactics they choose. Liverpool's tactics are Klopp's 433 shock flow style brought from the Bundesliga, using high-quality high pressing, as well as extremely fast wingers and full-backs to open up the formation and repeatedly impact the opponent, which Premier League fans like to call 'mad dog flow' tactics.
Although this style of play has contributed to Liverpool's Champions League and Premier League titles, it has high requirements for player quality, and repeated sprints have a lot of wear and tear on players. Therefore, in recent years, Liverpool has been at its peak because of player injuries and fatigue in the long Premier League.
Like this season, the Liverpool midfielder has been frequently changed because of Thiago's long-term absence, and finally has to let McAllister often play the role of a drag midfielder, after all, although the likes of Endo can top 1-2 games, but once he fights continuously, his physical strength is unsustainable and easy to become a loophole.
In other positions, the injuries of two full-backs, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson, as well as the first substitute striker Jota, have also had a very negative impact on the team's tactical changes in key games, not to mention the core of the team, Mohamed Salah. Although many players have recently returned from injury, it will take time for the players to recover from their condition, as well as the physical recovery of the players who were in the previous top position.
In fact, Liverpool's top brass must have discovered this reason. Therefore, in the selection of the new coach, it will be very hopeful to introduce Amorim who is currently leading Sporting Portugal to lead the grapes, at present, Sporting Portugal not only has a 7-point advantage in points, beating Benfica and Porto, the two giants, their 84 goals are more than 19 more than Benfica, the second in the league, it can be said that Sporting Portugal's style of play is the current popular technical control of offensive flow tactics.
Obviously, when Liverpool and Klopp split up this season, I am afraid that the team's tactical style will also change fundamentally, from the previous shock flow style that pays more attention to speed, physical fitness, and scrambling, to the European Latin faction that pays more attention to technology, passing control, and attacking play.
However, for Liverpool, when Klopp has spent so many years and made such a deep imprint on the team, how much time it will take to make tactical changes is really a big problem.
Let's wait and see whether such a change is right or not.